Mark Romanek requires no formal introduction. Work for iconic global brands Apple, AmEx, Nike, ESPN, Heineken and Honda all vie for attention on a reel replete with videos for artists such as Nine Inch Nails, Johnny Cash, Janet Jackson, Jay-Z, Lenny Kravitz, Madonna and more.

1. 48 People | ad icons
The Romanek
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2. mark romanek | People 49
empireMark Romanek requires no formal introduction.
Work for iconic global brands Apple, AmEx, Nike,
ESPN, Heineken and Honda all vie for attention on
a reel replete with videos for artists such as Nine
Inch Nails, Johnny Cash, Janet Jackson, Jay-Z,
Lenny Kravitz, Madonna and more.
His promos have garnered more than 20 MTV
Music Video Awards, three Grammy Awards for
Best Short Form Music Video — more than any
other director – and three Billboard Music Awards.
Romanek’s recent feature, Never Let Me Go, based
on Kazuo Ishiguro’s best-selling novel of the same
name, also scored much critical acclaim. TIME
Magazine’s Richard Corliss said, "Romanek imparts
a mood so subtle, with so many emotional
cataclysms conveyed through a glance or a few
tears, that the film might have been made by the
Japanese master Yasujiro Ozu."
Romanek took time to sit down with Simon Wakelin
to discuss his commercial inspirations, the pitfalls
of 3D filmmaking and the key to conquering
consumer cynicism...
SH137_p48-51_Icon_Romanek.indd 49 09/07/2012 14:07

3. 50 People | ad icons
Mark Romanek is seated in the
corner of a Starbucks in Malibu. He’s showing me
his latest spot for Nike – and it’s exactly how one
would expect a Romanek commercial to appear;
that is to say it’s beautifully framed, eloquently
shaped and subtly enticing.
The commercial in question is Nike Voices
through W+K Portland. It features four female
athletes in tight, close-up shots discussing the
obstacles they faced growing up. But what is
especially poignant about the spot is that the
narratives are interspersed with shots of young
girls, each talking about the same difficulties as
their adult athletic doppelgangers. After watching
it I ask Romanek what it was that drew him to
directing the spot.
“The notion of doing something very
human and simple like this was very
appealing. There is a lot of energy
and charisma coming from the older
athletes who have achieved something
in their lives juxtaposed with a natural
charisma that the kids possess.”
Speaking of charisma, one is also drawn to
Chalk on Romanek’s hypnotic reel, another Nike
spot depicting the passion and joy that Miami Heat
basketball star LeBron James inspires both on and
off the court. It visualises inspiration through the
use of a single gesture, that of LeBron James
ceremoniously throwing up a cloud of chalk high
into the air. The music on the spot is mesmerising,
keeping one’s eye on impeccably sculpted black
and white visuals.
“The original script called for Candy
Man by Sammy Davis Jr. I wasn’t
that thrilled with the choice, but said
let's try it. Meanwhile I did a simple
iTunes search for the word “candy”
and stumbled across Candyman
by a 90's hip-hop group called
Cornershop. It was perfect. I fell in
love with the track immediately.”
The original premise for the spot called for a
more farcical adventure, a concept that LeBron
wasn’t so jazzed about. “We had to reconceive the
spot for him,” admits Romanek. “LeBron liked my
Jay-Z video so we ended up creating something
more street, something more suited to the track.”
Romanek is now based in California, where he's
found a lifestyle that suits him. Though he lived in
London for a number of years, he found himself
travelling Stateside to direct commercials.
“It was tough to find the right work
in London. As a bit of an outsider, it
seemed tricky to break into that
community. So I was continually
flying to LA or NY. I’d get to America
jetlagged, then arrive back in the UK
jetlagged again, so I finally decided
to move back.”
As to why London offered less opportunity,
he opines that work was:
“often trumped by better opportunities
in North America, where the idea was
just as interesting, if not more so, with
twice the budget to work with. Maybe
things will change for me [in the UK]
now that I’m repped by Knucklehead.
I hope so.”
One thing he did enjoy about his London
experience was directing the feature Never Let Me
Go. Romanek explains that the practice of making
a feature film is fundamentally different from that
of making a commercial.
“You are entering into a completely
different mindset. Film is strictly
narrative. The only intention you have
is to engross the audience in your story.
If anything, you are driven by the fear
of losing the audience.”
Holding character on screen for an extended
period of time is obviously an immense challenge,
but one that Romanek welcomes. The film features
the talented triumvirate of Keira Knightley, Carey
Mulligan and Andrew Garfield. “It’s about hiring
talented people, trying to film them beautifully and
offering assistance if requested,” says Romanek on
directing a feature.
“I love the rehearsing process because
you get everything squared away
before the shoot begins. Then I let the
actors give their creative expression,
if they are serious, talented, intelligent
and have done their homework.”
Working with bonafide celebs in both film and
commercials leaves Romanek fully aware of the
celebrity-obsessed society we live in today, where
countless publications catch fame with covert
snapshots. He notes a rise in consumer cynicism
as a result of this:
“Audiences in general are sick of
being lied to, sick of being insulted
by glib, clever work, even if a celebrity
is endorsing a product or film. I work
with celebrities who have talent and
have achieved something meaningful
in their lives. I like people with
charisma who are good on camera
because that really drives everything.
It’s a point of focus.”
With fewer people actually going out to visit the
silver screen these days, the issue of watching a
film on a variety of digital devices also becomes
problematic for Romanek:
“I would hate to work on a movie for
two years and have someone watch
it on an iPhone. I can handle film on
the iPad with headphones – but we’re
moving from the communal cinema
experience to a more intimate,
personal experience on any number
of devices. All you can do is make
your film for some kind of imaginary,
utopian place, which is a nice big
screen in a quiet, beautiful cinema,
with perfect sound and projection.”
To illustrate his screen size chagrin, Romanek
discusses an issue that arose in the editing of
Never Let Me Go. He recalls cutting a scene, a
beautiful shot of a derelict boat on the shore at
dusk during 'magic hour'.
“I’m editing on a 60-inch plasma
when the cinematographer walks in.
He notes how prominent the boat is
in frame and says, ‘This is going to
be seen on a big screen. You should
use that beautiful wide shot where the
boat was tiny in the frame.’ He was
right. Though that choice was just one
small thread in the tapestry of the
entire film. You make enough of those
mistakes and you’ve got a bad movie.”
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4. mark romanek | People 51
Romanek still works with Media Arts Lab,
recently directing on a campaign for the iPhone 4S
that touts the novelty and convenience of Siri, an
intelligent personal assistant and knowledge
navigator app.
With so many iconic ads under his belt, does
Romanek ever struggle under the pressure of
constantly defining and delivering a brand’s core
message to global audiences? “You don’t have to
hit a home run every single time but you are
expected to hit a double or a triple,” he answers on
satisfying a client’s expectations.
“You can’t take millions of dollars
and simply strike out. But I will say
there’s a level of trust that comes with
the best creatives in the business.
They sit back and let you do your job
without micro management or any
fear-based behaviour. It’s a different
creative gestalt every time. I’d also
rather not figure out a broken idea or
take a mediocre one and jazz it up
with technique.”
As we wind down the interview I had to ask
what ingredients he thinks make a good director.
Although the question is an absurdly general one,
Romanek does me the honour of ruminating
before responding:
“I would say that a director needs to
tell the truth and not lie to himself, or
to others. Good directors lead in the
sense that they bring out the best in
people and make people feel like they
can do their best work. In short you
are a harmoniser. Directing is a role
that’s poorly understood because
everybody does it differently. There are
a million different ways to do it, plus
each day brings a new set of
circumstances to deal with.”
And if anyone can deal with daily challenges,
the visionary, versatile Romanek certainly can. S
"Film is strictly narrative. The only intention
you have is to engross the audience in your
story. If anything, you are driven by the fear
of losing the audience.”
Up ahead for Romanek on the feature front are
two films he’s considering – one for Disney and the
other for Sony. He is also developing a film from a
script he's written himself. But back to techie
matters, we discuss the advent of digital cameras
and how they allow anyone to easily shoot
technically proficient content. Romanek recalls the
16mm revolution of filmmaking decades ago as a
similar development – but with one caveat:
“If something was exceptionally
photographed back in the 70s it was
thrilling and rare, but today everything
looks great. Every single commercial
today is ten times more sophisticated
than anything shot a few decades ago.
The key is to make the content more
engrossing, more meaningful and
original to stand out from the rest. It’s
an interesting era, a very transitional
time – definitely the best of times and
the worst of times.”
The conversation moves over to the resurgence
of 3D filmmaking, an added dimension in the
storytelling process that Romanek has valid
concerns over.
“My problem is that 3D is just another
thing that takes your attention away
from the story. I’m worried it’s going
to become the norm. The analogy
might be when sound came in,
limiting filmmakers in horrendous
ways because they couldn’t move
the camera. It was a royal pain in
the ass back then until technology
caught up. It feels the same thing is
happening with 3D."
“The greatest stories are the ones
where time and space fall away. All
you care about is what will happen
next in the story to those characters.
I worry that 3D is an impediment to
that. Anything that stops the audience
from taking in the story is a huge
problem – but, hey, maybe 3D will
become so widespread, so second
nature that people won’t even be
thinking about it anymore.”
If Romanek hints at a sense of nostalgia in his
fondness for 2D, he certainly has a reverence for
another traditional cinematic tool – that of analog
film. It's something Romanek used recently with
cinematographer Jeff Cutter, for a Chrysler spot
with NFL player Ndamukong Suh.
“It was a wake-up call when the dailies
came in. Digital is pretty much all you
use commercially today, so you forget
how amazing film stock is. It’s like
putting vinyl on a great sound system;
you get chills because analog is just
a whole kind of other experience.
Not that digital isn’t great. Work shot
at 5K, projected in 4K, is extremely
beautiful – but different from film.”
As for a signature look to Romanek’s work, he
ponders momentarily, wondering if it’s actually a
good thing to have a signature look.
“I try to do lots of different looks, but
if there is any commonality to discuss,
it might be – for the most part – that I
like my lighting to be very motivated. I
like available light, natural light.”
Romanek got to light in silhouette for those
iconic Apple spots of 2007/2008 for the iPod/
iTunes campaign through TBWAChiatDay
Media Arts Lab. It is no exaggeration to state that
the work defined an era. It was also a departure for
Romanek, who'd been immersed in a hugely
successful promo career – one that prompted MTV
to award him a Video Vanguard Award for his
overall contribution to the medium. “In retrospect
those spots were all music-driven spots, essentially
30 or 60-second music videos,” he recalls.
“They were one of the strongest
advertising ideas of that decade.
Apple owned minimalism in a way.
And they still do. It became my job
creating them for several years at
Media Arts Lab, and because the spots
were so music driven it satisfied my
appetite for making music videos.”
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